Friday, November 13, 2009

PAF's First Block 52 F-16D Takes To The Skies

It may be recalled that on October 13 Lockheed Martin had rolled out the first of 18 new Block 50/52 F-16C/D M-MRCAs being produced for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in a ceremony that was attended, among others, by the PAF’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rao Quamar Suleman. The aircraft order is designated as Peace Drive I and it raises the total number of F-16s ordered by Pakistan to date to 58. The PAF received its first of 40 Block 15 F-16A/Bs in 1982. The Peace Drive I order is for 12 F-16Cs and six F-16Ds, all powered by the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 turbofans. The first aircraft--a tandem-seat F-16D--will be delivered to the US government (as agent for Pakistan in the Foreign Military Sales process) next month, with the remainder following in 2010. Joining them by late 2011 (through to 2016) will be the first of up to 70 AL-31FN turbofan-powered FC-20 single-engined M-MRCAs from China, which will be ordered in two successive batches, with the first batch comprising 36 single-seaters and four tandem-seaters, along with a related weapons package that will include PGMs like LT-2, LT-3, LS-6, and FT-1/2/3/5 guided-bombs, and YJ-99 supersonic anti-radiation missiles. The FC-20 will also be capable of carrying two Ra'ad 350km-range air-launched subsonic cruise missiles.—Prasun K. Sengupta

23 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Lol I can see you went out of your way to highlight Russian engines in J 10B. No information to say what engine J 10B will have? I suspect Chinese engine will be on it, seeing that WS 10A is in production. And they have years to iron out reliability issues that were reported previously.

To Anon Above: LoL(!) Just because a couple of WS-10A scale models are displayed at exhibitions does not automatically translate into the turbofan entering series production! As far back as the Zhuhai 2008 expo, CTRDC officials I met clearly said they are at least another eight years away from series-producing the WS-10A using directionally solidified turbine blades! Furthermore, the illustration is neither of the J-10A nor the J-10B, but the FC-20.

It is neither the J-10A or J-10B. The former PAF in his interview to AFM himself confirmed in 2008 that the new M-MRCA will be called the FC-20. If Flight Int'l magazine wants to dispute what the then PAF Chief stated, then it is either totslly ignorant or is engaging in disinformation.

Joining them by late 2011 (through to 2016) will be the first of up to 70 AL-31FN turbofan-powered FC-20 single-engined M-MRCAs from China, which will be ordered in two successive batches, with the first batch comprising 36 single-seaters and four tandem-seaters, along with a related weapons package that will include PGMs like LT-2, LT-3, LS-6, and FT-1/2/3/5 guided-bombs, and YJ-99 supersonic anti-radiation missiles.

To Aadi: The principal external differences are the different design of the underbelly air-intake, and the IRST sensor offset to the FC-20's starboard side in front of the cockpit canopy. Both the IRST and HMD are reverse-engineered from the original Russian design on board the Su-30MKK. There was an earlier proposal from Chengdu Aircraft Corp to incorporate twin conformal fuel-tanks similar in dedsign to those on board the EF-2000 Eurofighter and Rafale F3, but the PAF decided against such CFTs, preferring instead to go for an aerial refuelling probe. The HUD is holographic, and the glass cockpit is similar in appearance to that on the JF-17 Thunder--in fact there will be significant commonality of avionics between the FC-20 and JF-17. In addition, both the FC-20 and JF-17 will be equipped with SATCOM-based data links to enable them to exchange tactical air situation-related info with the four ZDK-03 AEW & C platforms that are on order as well from China. I've also reliably gathered that the PAF intends to equip its FC-20s with the Selex Galileo-built Vixen 1000e AESA-based multi-mode radar, but its installation on the FC-20 will be done inside Pakistan by the Kamra-based PAC, which previously handled such work on the upgraded Mirage IIIPs and F-7Ps and F-7PGs. But most importantly, the FC-20 deal conveys a very significant message by China and Pakistan to the US: whether the PAF does or does not get the latest F-16C/Ds is now of no concern since China is more than willing to step in to make the US supplies of hardware totally irrelevant to the PAF. To me therefore, announcement of this deal is a significant and high-profile snub by both Beijing and Islamabad to Washington DC, the implications of which are enormous and far-reaching.

To Austin: The first thing to be borne in mind about the Block 50/52 F-16C/Ds and MLU-standard upgraded F-16A/Bs of the PAF is that their on-board APG-66 and APG-68 fire-control radars are non-monopulse, meaning they're not optimised for BVR air combat and therefore, in comparison to the MiG-29UPG the PAF F-16s will will be 'inferior' in the BVR air combat arena. Secondly, the PAF F-16s will not have on-board JTIDS-related hardware, meaning they won;t be able to directly communicate in real-time with the Saab 2000 AEW & C platforms, but rather the AEW & C platforms will have to send the air situation picture to ground-based sector operations centres which in turn will be responsible for airspace battle management. Another related handicap is that of the AIM-120C AMRAAMs, which will not be able to get mid-course navigational updates from the Saab 2000 AEW & Cs. This is why the PAF decided to deliberately go for the combined FC-20/PL-12/ZDK-03 package as an integrated solution. Therefore, the FC-20 will be true network-centric M-MRCA, while the PAF F-16s will not be so.The MiG-29UPG on the other hand will be able to communicate directly with the A-50I PHALCONs as they will all have the same on-board data links (from TADIRAN SpectraLink) as that on board the Su-30MKIs. The avionics architecture will be the same as that for the MiG-29K/KUB, while the LDP will be the much-familiar Litening-3 (the FC-20's LDP is a reverse-engineered ATLIS-2). I will upload the MiG-29UPG specs later tonight.

To Anon@7:13AM: And your depth of penetration is only skin-deep.

To Anon@8AM: Externally, the YJ-99 bears a close resemblance to the supersonic Aerospatiale ASMP-C, designed and developed in the 1980s.

To Anon@8:04AM: That depends entirely on the type of missile ejector racks to be carried. In a pure air superiority configuration, the FC-20 would carry six PL-12 BVRAAMs and four PL-9C WVRAAMs.

Prasun K Sengupta said...To Anon@8:04AM: That depends entirely on the type of missile ejector racks to be carried. In a pure air superiority configuration, the FC-20 would carry six PL-12 BVRAAMs and four PL-9C WVRAAMs.

Thank you

CAN you are the details about the hard points that will carry 6 BVR and 4 WVR missiles?

I have seen pictures of J-10A with middle under wing hard pint carrying missile ejector racks to carry 2BVR and outer hard point carrying 1 WVR missile so J-10A can carry 2 WVRAAM and 4 BVRAAM at most plus 3EFT. Can you show some diagram or explain youself about the 10AAM configuration

But most importantly, the FC-20 deal conveys a very significant message by China and Pakistan to the US: whether the PAF does or does not get the latest F-16C/Ds is now of no concern since China is more than willing to step in to make the US supplies of hardware totally irrelevant to the PAF. To me therefore, announcement of this deal is a significant and high-profile snub by both Beijing and Islamabad to Washington DC, the implications of which are enormous and far-reaching.

Completely agree with you sir

Now USA don’t have the leverage of 90s against PAF and to protect its influence and interest they will have to deliver

To Anon@10:02AM: That configuration was publicly displayed last Sunday at a PLAAF air base at Shangdong for visiting air force chiefs. China's CCTV showed it as well. The PL-12s and PL-8s were shown clearly.

To Vishant: Yup. Strikingly similar to the CFTs on board the EF-2000 and Rafale F3.

To Vishant: Yes, I've seen the CAD drawings of Tejas Mk2 which by the way were prepared way back in 1987 by GE Aero Engines. As to the radars for the Tejas Mk1 and Mk2, I had answered that in my previous blog-posting.

In your previous blog-posting you have written that the GoI has still not funded the development of CFTs on the Tejas Mk2 M-MRCA.How will then there will be CFTs on the Tejas?

Can the DASH-3 HMD replace the HUD/Head-Down-Displays on the Tejas as i have read somewhere that future HMDs can replace the Displays on the cocckpit in the aircraft?

You have written n your previous blog-posting that the IRST sensors for the Tejas Mk2 M-MRCA will be imported.Can you please tell what IRST sensors will go on the Tejas?How good it will be?Are there any chance of INDIGENOUSLY developed IRST sensors and AESA radars to go on-board the Tejas i.e. Tejas Mk3 onwards.